Ryan Braun was suspended 65 games by MLB for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. / Benny Sieu, USA TODAY Sports

by Nick Piecoro, USA TODAY Sports

by Nick Piecoro, USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH â?? Count Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson among those still waiting to hear what Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun has to say about his suspension â?? and still waiting to encounter the former MVP in person.

Gibson said he was talking recently with his wife, Joanne, about how his legendary home run in the 1988 World Series changed the course of his life when she made a point about performance-enhancing drugs and how they might have affected the 2011 season. That year, Braun and the Brewers eliminated Gibson's Diamondbacks in the division series.

"If you look at that moment in my career, it was a huge moment," Gibson said Sunday morning of his World Series homer. "It was big in my career. It helped propel me to really where I am today.

"Her point was, she gets pissed off about the PED stuff and goes back to the playoffs and Braun. I told her that if I get a chance to see Braun, I got a question for him, right to his face. Is he about rehearsed by now? About ready to come out? He's probably been practicing at theater school somewhere. Anyway, she was looking at how things like that can influence people's opportunities and the opportunity to do something like that."

Gibson wouldn't say specifically what he wanted to ask Braun.

Braun accepted a 65-game suspension in July for "violations of the Basic Agreement and its Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program" but has yet to speak publicly.

Gibson said he heard Braun speak in 2011 at the baseball writers' awards dinner in New York. "I remember everything he said very vividly," Gibson said.

A month after his name first surfaced in connection to PEDs, Braun accepted his MVP award at the Hilton Hotel in New York.

"I've always believed a person's character is revealed through the way they deal with those moments of adversity," Braun was quoted as saying in The New York Times. "I've always loved and had so much respect for the game of baseball. Everything I've done in my career has been done out of respect and appreciation in mind, and that is why I'm so grateful and humbled to accept this award tonight."

Said Gibson: "I said this a long time ago: I think that people should have an opportunity to ask him some questions and have him answer them unrehearsed. Something tells me he's getting really prepared for just about anything that they could throw at him.

"I'm not surprised he hasn't addressed people. He probably doesn't give a (expletive) about me. He's got it really good. I was one of the guys who went through many things â?? work stoppages, etc. â?? so that he could do that. I would hope that he respects me and everybody who stood up for him before he played the game. Everybody looks at it differently, but if he thinks he's giving back to the game, he has a different idea of how to give back than I do."

The Diamondbacks lost to the Brewers in extra innings of Game 5 of the best-of-five series, in which Braun went 9 for 18 with four doubles and a home run.

"Everybody listened to his line of (expletive), so you take him at face value," Gibson said, referring to Braun's press conference in spring training of 2012. "All things considered, we should have won the game. All things considered, the last game, we tied it up and we had a chance to win it. There were other times in my career when I did overcome cheaters. We had our chance."